What do You think about Tonight I Said Goodbye (2005)?
Unfortunately even Scott Brick's excellent narration could not salvage this badly plotted mess. There were so many holes in the plot I gave up trying to solve the mystery and basically spent the second half of the book trying to guess what stupid thing the protagonist would do next.There's a good long list of bad choices and even worse plotting. Here are a few: (view spoiler)[1. Talk about how you don't trust someone but at the same time, let him in on your secret plans.2. Figure out that the FBI guy is dirty, but then use land lines to have important conversations. (For some reason, this one never came back to bite them.)3. While hiding from the bad guys, leave a kid unattended in a hotel room to go down for a bit of fun in the hot tub.4. Play hide and go seek with a kid when you know bad guys are looking for her.5. Continue to use a rental car that police are looking for in at least two states.6. Be on the run and in hiding, yet don't have your bags packed and ready to go.7. Forget the most important piece of evidence there is and have to go back for it.8. Try to throw off your pursuers by driving to another city, but then take the most direct route there is back to where the bad guys are expecting you. Never could figure that one out! (hide spoiler)]
—Pamela
Investigator Wayne Weston is found dead, an apparent suicide. His wife and six-year-old daughter are missing and officials believe that it is a murder-suicide. Wayne's father, a crusty WWII vet, hires Lincoln Perry and his partner, Joe Pritchard, to investigate.With excellent dialogue and interesting characters, Michael Koryta takes the reader on the trail as the detectives accept the case and look into the details. The investigators are surprised at the start. It seems that Weston doesn't have any current cases. He does seem to be doing some work for wealthy Jeremiah Hubbard, a real estate developer who is attempting to purchase waterfront property in Cleveland and create a riverfront that will be even better than New Orleans'. When Perry and his partner visit with Hubbard, Hubbard won't admit anything and then attempts to bribe them to drop the case.This makes the investigators more suspecious and intent to find out what was going on. The search has some unsuspected turns when they find a connection to a group of Russians who are underworld figures.This is Michael Koryta's first novel and a well done job. He uses dialogue to get to know the characters and the reader becomes almost an interested participant as the case develops. Koryta gives the readeer a number of surprises and keeps the action going throughout the story.
—Michael
Tonight I Said Goodbye is a very well written entry into the detective / mystery genre. The fact that the narration was by Scott Brick is an added bonus which adds up to a 5+ star recommendation. I will say if I had read it rather than listened to it, I still would have awarded 5 stars but I wouldn't have read to it in my car, done an extra hour of yard work so I could keep listening or sat in my driveway to finish it off yesterday after a long day in the car. I was disappointed when my audio club sent me all of Michael Koryta's books from my list at once but that was before I listened to this. Now I am thrilled I have some more to listen to. The characters are well drawn and the mystery has enough twists to keep you guessing and then some. Please note the twists are honest and well thought out, in keeping with the narrative flow. (As opposed to the dishonest twists which some authors throw in. You know what I mean; in Chapter one the author has the character speed by a gas station with an A in its names and in the last chapter the character realizes the A meant there was an abduction afoot.) You won't find anything dishonest in this or anything less than entertaining.
—Nadeen
